Much has been made of the egregious sums of money that get ‘donated’ to members of Congress to influence legislation and avoid reform — and, for all intents and purposes, accountability — but oft overlooked in the ongoing health care reform debate is the amount of money that the health care industry gave to President Barack Obama when he was a candidate in 2008.
To the healthcare industry, Barack Obama, who received almost three times more than Senator John McCain during the election cycle, is the $20 million dollar man. Analysis from the Center for Responsive Politics for Raw Story revealed that President Obama received a staggering $20,175,303 from the healthcare industry in 2008 while John McCain received $7,758,289 in ‘contributions.’
A revealing report from Raw Story shows that Obama received $19,462,986 from the health sector, which includes $11.7m from health professionals, $1.4m from health services/HMOs, $3.3m from hospitals/nursing homes and $2.1m from pharmaceuticals/health products. The remaining balance of the more than $20 million consisted of miscellaneous health donations from which Obama received $860,411. Your rising insurance premiums are being used to pay off politicians in Washington. An explanation of the complete breakdown can be found in the article from Raw Story. There is definitely a relationship between Obama and the health sector.
The staggering amount of ‘contributions’ from the health care industry to their $20 million dollar man in the White House serves as one example of why the endless cycle of corruption in Washington never ends and why it’s time to change or abolish lobbying laws and the corporate ownership of America’s politicians. Until it changes, the American people will continue being on the short end of the stick. Even more staggering is the fact that Americans donated half a billion dollars to Obama when he was campaigning and this is the thanks they get.
Obama’s Transformation on Health Care Since Being Elected is Shameful
Owning politicians in Washington isn’t enough for large corporations. A verdict by the U.S. Supreme Court in a hotly anticipated campaign finance reform case is expected soon. Corporations are reportedly pitching to radically change the 1st Amendment, arguing that political spending by corporations should be treated as protected speech. If the Supreme Court rules for the corporations, businesses and other big-money players will be able to spend billions of dollars on propaganda hyping their preferred candidate and slandering their opponents — similar to the way FOX ‘news’ does now.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Raw Story for the article. The impact of Obama’s copious contributions from the health sector and its impact on influencing public policy — coupled with his disregard for millions of Americans — deserves attention.
It’s interesting to note the rather stark evolution from candidate Obama, who, as noted by Raw Story, once advocated for universal health care and was a vocal critic of mandated health insurance — which the current ‘reform bill’ contains — to President Obama, who excluded single-payer advocates from White House health care summits and who has since strongly embraced mandates.
Norman Solomon, historian and media critic who was an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention, says the president’s transformation on health care since being elected is ‘shameful.’ Instead of hearing about health care reform, we’re now hearing about health insurance reform from the Obama White House. The President’s transformation on many issues — especially those started illegally by President George W. Bush — is even more shameful.
Obama Received Half a Billion Dollars from Everyday Americans While Campaigning
Based on Obama’s actions since receiving more than $20 million from the health sector, it appears that the industry is getting their money’s worth from all of their ‘contributions.’
Big Pharma benefited from their $2.1 million ‘contributions’ to Obama. His White House cut a deal last August with Big Pharma wherein the drug industry agrees to deliver $80 billion in future savings for which Obama promised that the government would not negotiate lower drug prices. Candidate Obama — and many Democrats in Congress — loudly denounced the almost exact same deal that was made by George W. Bush when he was in office. Obama’s deal with Big Pharma is bad for the American people.
It’s time to fix the broken, corrupted system that has allowed special interests to own politicians at the public expense. Americans are already paying heavy prices because of all the greed and corruption in Washington.
Despite raising half a billion dollars from everyday Americans during his 21-month campaign for the White House, Obama has sold out Americans to the health sector for a little more than $20 million. Unless I’m missing something here, hope and change certainly don’t mean what they used to.
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